Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to hear" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

слышать

Meaning: to hear, to feel a smell

Pronunciation: [SLIH-shaht']

Part of speech: verb (imperfective aspect)

Rank: #269 (see frequency list)

Have you heard the knock on the door?
Photo by dynamosquito, licensed under CC SA 2.0

Example sentences:

Ты слы́шал стук в дверь?
Have you heard the knock on the door?
Я не хочу́ слы́шать об э́том.
I don't want to hear about that.
Мне стра́нно слы́шать таки́е слова́ от тебя́.
It's strange for me to hear such words from you.
Он слы́шал, как в саду́ пою́т пти́цы.
He heard the birds singing in the garden.
Я слы́шал, о чём вы говори́ли.
I've heard what you were talking about.
Я уже́ э́то слы́шал.
I've already heard that.
Не слы́шу вас.
I can't hear you. (polite; may be used on the phone)
Мой де́душка пло́хо слы́шит.
My granddad is hard of hearing.
Я слы́шу за́пах роз.
I feel the smell of the roses.
Андрей! Слы́шишь?
Andrey! You there? (informal)
literal Andrey! Can you hear me?

Idioms and set expressions:

слы́шать за́пах (+ genitive) = to feel the smell of smb.
literal to hear the smell of
кто-либо пло́хо слы́шит = smb. is hard of hearing
literal smb.does not hear well

Related words:

слы́шаться = to be heard; be felt
услы́шать = to hear (perfective aspect)
слышне́е = easier to hear

Proverbs and sayings:

Му́дрый слы́шит вполсло́ва.
A wise man hears one word and understands two.
literal A wise man hears with just half a word.
Не тот глухо́й, кто глух, а тот, кто не жела́ет слы́шать.
None are so deaf as those that won't hear.
Слы́шал звон, да не зна́ет где он.
To get hold of the wrong end of the stick.
literal He's heard the ringing but doesn't know where it's coming from.
Лес ви́дит, а по́ле слы́шит.
Hedges have eyes and walls have ears.
literal The forest sees, and the field hears.
Ре́чи слы́шали, а дел не ви́дим.
Good words and no deeds.
literal We've heard the speeches but don't see the actions.

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

I	слы́шу
you (singular)	слы́шишь
he, she, it	слы́шит
we	слы́шим
you (plural)	слы́шите
they	слы́шат

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	слы́шал
she	слы́шала
it	слы́шало
we, you (plural), they	слы́шали

Future Simple Tense

The imperfective verb слышать is not used in the Future Simple Tense. Use the perfective verb услышать instead.

Future Compound Tense

I	буду слы́шать
you (singular)	будешь слы́шать
he, she, it	будет слы́шать
we	будем слы́шать
you (plural)	будете слы́шать
they	будут слы́шать

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	слы́шь
you (plural)	слы́шьте

View full conjugation table for the verb pair слышать/услышать

Vocabulary lesson: By Russificate blog exclusively for MasterRussian

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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